'tis the season (take two)

It's time to kick the holidays into high gear. We have less than a
month until Christmas. Times are tough this year, so I'm going to be
writing to Santa with my wishes for this year. I know I've been nice
(not naughty), so I'm hoping Santa will come through. If not, I know
where he lives ...

Floyd's

I took the short walk to the #13 beer bar in the world the other night
only to find a line of hipsters standing out front. Disappointing. So,
we walked a few more blocks down the street and went to Floyd's. I
have been there before and thought it was pretty cool. It was also a
little empty, which was good (for me) and bad for the bar. They have a
pretty good beer selection, both on tap and in bottles. They also had
this very fun bumpersticker. It's going on my bike. Some of you know
that story, but it seems like the perfect place for this sticker.

Vintage?

When did my grandmother's 1970s furniture get salvaged from the thrift
store, spraypainted aqua and placed for sale in this overpriced
boutique? Oh, I think it also has new fixtures. Definitely vintage.
And worth the $500 for the two nightstands. Does this mean that some
day my Ikea pressboard furniture will also one day be repainted and
sold as vintage? I hope so, I have a bunch and could use the money.

More colored trees

This is about the sixth time I have blogged about a window display
from this store. As you can see, they have jumped on the fake colored
Christmas tree bandwagon. Whatever happened to the natural evergreen
that was grown and groomed for its entire life to be sacrificed as a
backdrop for a pile of presents? Oh, yeah, that's not so green, is
it? I guess if you're going to have a fake tree, you may as well pick
a crazy color that looks good in your livingroom. As for me, I will go
to Dominick's and buy another green foot tall tree for $12 and then
plant it in my backyard when the season is over. It worked well last
year. Maybe I'll take a picture and write a blog post about it.

Believe me, this little tree was exponentially easier than when I had
a six foot live tree with a root ball. That was a little bit of a
nightmare. I ended up taking the tree to my sister's in the middle of
January in Philadelphia. Actually, I drove it out there one day when
she was out of town and dropped it on her porch. (yes, we had talked
about it beforehand) Her husband used a pick axe to dig a hole in the
frozen ground and dropped the tree in the hole, frozen roots and all.
Everyone thought the little tree would die, but it survived and
thrived!! Little tree is still growing on their property! All in
all, though, I recommend opting for the $12 tree in a planter - it is
much less work and much less disappointing if it doesn't survive.
Next summer, I hope to have two new little trees in my backyard. If
I'm still blogging, I'll take a picture and write a blog entry. If
not, I'll just take the picture and send it to the three of you who
are reading this blog. :)

Long day

Okay, so I didn't do anything very exciting - slept in, had breakfast,
ran 9.6 miles, went shopping, played tennis, shopped more, nuked
leftovers, and watched the end of Ironman and the beginning of the
Italian Job, but it wore me out! And Inde, too! You may not be able
to tell from this picture, but Inde is just about as tall as I am. And
she occasionally likes to snuggle. Don't let her fool you, she got an
extra cup of food tonight after her long run.

Summer?

I was perusing the deli section of the grocery store this evening (I
know, what a boring life I lead that I am at the grocery store on a
Saturday night before going home for leftovers) and I saw this
appetizing preserved meat product. The Midwest is sort of crazy about
questionable meat products that it grinds up and stuffs inside casing,
but this takes it one step too far. Summer sausage shaped like a
football, with real stitching? Are you kidding me? They take their
football pretty seriously, too, except the Bears (they stink). I was
channel surfing while eating my leftovers and stumbled across high
school football in high definition. I swear my life was more exciting
when I lived on the east coast. Summer sausage, anyone?

Thanksgiving dinner

Here it is - the finished dinner. From left to right, front row: my
mom's broccoli and cheese casserole (slightly modified), apple cider
sage turkey (from Bon Appettit), sweet potato and raisins with maple
syrup and brown sugar (B.A.) and sourdough, apple, bacon and celery
stuffing (from B.A.). The back row is the Adoration Ale. Missing from
the photo is the canned cranberry sauce.

I spent 12 hours chopping and cooking, but it was all very good! The
total cost of all the ingredients was about $150. That seems like a
lot for dinner at home for two, but I think there are about 10
servings of leftovers!!

Adoration

This is a seasonal release from Ommegang brewery. When I visited the
brewery in September, the first batch of this beer was aging in the
bottles. I was very excited to see it in the store before
Thanksgiving. This is a strong dark ale brewed with coriander,
cardamom, mace, grains of paradise, and sweet orange peel. At 10%
abv, you might want to make this your first and only beer. It will be
worth it.

I love chocolate

How can you make an awesome snack like pretzel goldfish even better?
You dip them in chocolate! All sounds good in theory, right. But
there is a problem where theory meets practice -- they put too much
chocolate on these poor little fish. Smothered 'em. And, they used
goldfish without salt, to add insult to injury. So, although I love
chocolate, I did not love the chocolate dipped pretzel goldfish. But
I'll finish the bag!!

Dinner!

Here is a photo of the Thanksgiving dinner I anticipate eating in
about sixty minutes. What an adventure. And lots of food for two
people. Two of the dishes (three if you count the turkey) are from
Bon Appettit. I should have known better. I spent about three hours
last night doing prep and have been cooking for four hours today. But
I'm still having cranberry sauce out of a can - not even Bon Appettit
can improve on that! For those of you who have already eaten, feel
free to stop by later for your second dinner.

Danger!

'Tis the season for visiting with family and friends and leaving your homes empty -- just the thing for which thieves are giving thanks!  I was on my way out of the house this afternoon to buy some last-minute things for my Bon Appettit Thanksgiving extravaganza when I saw a young man walking down the sidewalk.  I made some comment to him about the weather, to which he did not respond.  He looked a little suspect, so I sort of hesitated getting into the car.  After a minute or so, he walked back up my street, saw me and then turned around.  I pulled out of the driveway and saw him slowly walking up the main street.  I crossed the street and did a u-turn in my car.  I saw him walking toward me, then he saw me and turned the other direction.  I followed him for a short distance and then doubled back to my house, guessing that he would work his way back to the alley behind my house.  I bumped into a couple from down the street and then, sure enough, the mystery man entered the alley and continued to walk right by the three of us.  Hmmm... not so smart, and definitely up to no good.  They suggested that I call the police and I went back to the house and called 9-1-1.  I stood outside and talked with a neighbor and, again, the mystery man walked back up my street.  A fancy new-looking car pulled up the street, he hopped in and the car drove to the end of the block, picked up another guy, did a u-turn and headed back down to where I was standing.  Mystery man jumped up and headed out to the main street while the car waited. . .  Then the police car pulled up and the fancy sports car took off.  The police took off, but didn't catch the car or the man.  They came back to talk with me.  I gave them essentially this account of the interaction and they told me to call if I saw anything suspicious.  The officers were nice, but their advice that I should not worry and just lock my door was not very comforting.  I guess I expected them to say that they would patrol the area, but they did not.  I should take some comfort, however, from the fact that there is almost always a police car about a block away to pull people over for making an illegal right on red.

In short, I hope you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving and, if you travel, that when you return home, it is just as you left it.

'tis the season

Just to set the record straight, I'm not a Scrooge. I just like my
holidays in the proper season with a little bit of tradition. You can
imagine, then, how I feel about a pink plastic Christmas tree. For
those of you who can't, I don't like it! I don't like pink to begin
with, let alone on a plastic tree. What will they think of next, a
live action version of the Grinch? Wait a minute ...

Belated post about Christmas music

I've been meaning to write this all week, but I guess I'm just not in
the holiday spirit. So, on Monday morning my alarm goes off at the
normal time -- and the radio is playing Rudolph the Red-nosed
reindeer!! What?? As if it's not hard enough to get up on Monday
morning. It was November 16th, just in case you wondered. Now, for
the record, I like the holiday season and much of the hoopla that goes
along with it, but this was too much. I have always followed the
unwritten rules of the calendar: no white shoes before Memorial Day,
no white shoes after Labor Day, and no Christmas music or decorations
until after Thanksgiving!! Did I miss the memo? What has changed? Is
this a move by those commercial powers that be to try to kick start
our ailing economy? Look, many of us are out of work and playing
holiday music two weeks early is not going to magically put money in
our pockets to go out and start buying stuff. I thought trickle down
economics died with Bonzo. I think I'm going to boycott Christmas this
year. Anybody else?

If I only had a tow truck

Chicago: mid November 2009. A pair of brilliant thieves pulled off
one of the greatest heists in recent history on Thursday when they
backed their tow truck up to an armored car on a busy street in the
loop at the height of rush hour. Numerous bystanders watched as the
thieves made off with a truckload of money. Why didn't I think of that?

Open position - director of marketing

Who ever thought this was a good idea? Let's call our company
"bimbo." What? I think they should be looking for a new director of
marketing.

Back by popular demand

First, thanks to those loyal readers (you know who you are) who have
encouraged me to continue with my blog. Second, this topic was already
on my radar screen ...

I think this is the fourth or fifth posting from this storefront. The
t-shirt on the right has some freaky artwork, but I approve of the
message. Although I do not feel abandonned or betrayed by the current
president (unlike when President Clinton promptly left us outside the
Whitehouse), I would like to see him take a stronger stand on issues
relating to the gay community. As the shirt says, "you promised, I
voted." I think we have some type of unilateral contract. It's time
for the administration to deliver.

Shower tool?

Interesting. Men can't use a regular loofah? They need to have a
loofah surrounded by a rubber tire that they market as a tool. Really?

Popskull!

This brown ale was aged in a paolo santo wood barrel. I was a little
scared by the label, but it was very very good. At 10% abv, it was
probably a good idea to split one bottle among the three of us. If you
have a chance, I highly recommend it.

Stay in school

These oak casks are filled with Popskull, a collaboration between 3
Floyds and Dogfishhead, a Delaware craft brewery. I bought a bottle to
take home and enjoy, although the label promises that it will make my
head explode. The tour was okay - it cost $1 and did not have any free
samples at the end (which was okay with me because I was the driver,
but Every other tour I have taken was free and ended with free
samples). Wait, I think New Glarus charged $5 for a small glass and
you got 3 samples for "free." The cask at the bottom left says "stay
in school" on it. I'm not sure who the target audience is for that
message because everyone on the tour is over 21, but I would have
given that advice to our tour guide. He, much like this post, rambled
on in a stream of consciousness that didn't make much sense.

Gumballhead!

From Halloweenhead to Gumballhead. I am at the Three Floyd's brewery
for lunch and a tour. Gumballhead is an American wheat beer and it's
pretty good. The cat looks a little bit like Bill the cat, but cooler.

Am I the only state employee who washes her hands?

I was disturbed by the first directive to wash my hands (as previously
posted), but now I understand that they have seasonal themed
announcements. Aren't we all adults? Don't we all know that we are
supposed to wash our hands? Is this sign really going to change
anyone's mind? Crazy.

Halloween Head

This post is a little late forthis year or super early for next year!
This bar is in Lincoln Park, or at least close. I think it is mostly
a university bar, but I'm not sure. They have this cool display of
carved pumpkins in front of the bar. Some quick fuzzy (aka "George
bush") math tells me there are about 200 pumpkins on dispay (there are
more that didn't fit in the picture). Some are lame, but some are
really well done.

The display reminds me of my favorite Ryan Adams song, Halloween
Head ... "head full of tricks and treats."

Inde is depressed

Inde is a dog. She lives in the now. She cannot delay her
gratification. The Phillies broke her heart. In 2007, she blamed Pat
the Bat. But this year, she does not have an obvious scape goat, so
she blames me. I cannot handle letting her down. I'm sorry, Inde.
Let's jump the bandwagon of some NHL team. Hey, wait, the Blackhawks
are supposed to be good. Let's go Blackhawks!!

Evil empire

I did all I could do, but the evil empire still prevailed. The
Phillies should hold their heads high. If we pick up one more starter,
a closer and a utility infielder who can hit, we're right back in it
next year! Way to go boys! It was a good year.

Game 6!!

I'm getting ready for game 6! Pedro versus Pettite. In Yankee
stadium. I've decorated the door and I'm wearing my heart on my
sleeve. Go Phillies!!

More cows

This one was a little out of my way, but I hiked down (and then up) a
couple flights of stairs to snap his picture. Technically, I guess I
should say her picture because this is a cow and not a bull? My
bovine knowledge is not very good, so I'm happy to be corrected. This
cow is at the UIC school of pharmacy and is a little scary with all
the drugs and pills. And she has funny pants!

Cliff Lee to pitch on 2 days rest!

Okay, maybe that is just a dream, but that's what we need! He only
threw 112 pitches in game 5, so maybe he will be available in the pen
for game 6 or 7!

Game 6, here we come!!

What a game!! I hate to say it, but all we need is Cliff Lee and a 6-
run lead going into the ninth! In the words of a good friend (last
seen parading around as a tub of oxy clean), it wasn't pretty, but
it'll do! I was on the edge of my seat as Damon got a lead-off hit in
the top of the 9th. But the Phillies pulled it out. We're going back
to NY to try to pull this out. Whew. Go Phillies! And Chase has 5
home runs in the World Series, tied with Mr. October himself. If I
recall, they made a candy bar after Reggie. How about a Cheesesteak
flavored candybar in honor of Chase Utley?

Philly pride

You can take the girl out of Philly, but you can't take the Philly out
of the girl. I'm wearing my Philly pride on my sleeve. Go Phillies!
Let's get game 5 and head back to NY!!